Burr Ridge At Odds With Park District

BURR RIDGE, IL – The Burr Ridge village government is apparently limiting its communications with a local park district on a proposed development that would include Costco.

Through a public records request on the development, Patch on Thursday obtained an email from the village about the Burr Ridge Park District.

Village Administrator Evan Walter sent the email to the mayor and the Village Board.

He alleged Patti Malloy, a park board member, emailed a document to residents in a breach of "executive session decorum."

Walter said the document was circulated in a park board closed session in which the board and staff discussed potential improvements to Harvester Park in relation to the Costco development.

The park is southwest of the old CNH property, which is under consideration for the Costco store and other businesses.

If what Walter is saying is true, the board may have held a closed session that violated the state's open meetings law.

Under the law, the board cannot discuss improvements to a park behind closed doors. It is also unclear how the board could legally talk about the CNH property outside public view.

On July 10, the board held a closed session at its regular meeting. But neither the agenda nor the minutes are on the district's website. Those documents would likely indicate which exceptions under the open meetings law the board used.

The board has not placed any meeting minutes online in five months. Patch also could find no past agendas on its website. Most public bodies provide all that information online.

Patch has left two messages for comment with Jim Pacanowski, the district's director, since Thursday. It also left messages Friday with Malloy and the board's president, Robert Quigley.

In his email, Walter said the document in question was about developer Bridge Industrial's plan for the 110-acre property at 6900 Veterans Boulevard.

An anonymous mailer sent to residents described the plans for the new development, Walter said. He said the village staff believed Malloy was responsible. The information came to her during a closed session, he said.

"Due to this occurrence, I have directed staff and our development consultants not to share further documentation with the Park District related to the potential development at CNH until further notice," Walter said.

Once the developer submits a zoning request, Walter said, it will be made public in a timely manner, including to the park district.

"We will continue to dialogue with the Park District in a non-documentation manner as is necessary to ensure that whatever development is ultimately proposed at CNH is complementary to the use of Harvester Park," Walter said.

He added, "At this time, we have not received any media or (Freedom of Information Act) requests related to this mailer, but that may change quickly."

Patch filed a request Thursday. On Friday, the village released the mailer information (pictured below).

Walter has not returned a message for comment.

The village's records also indicate that residents in the Fieldstone neighborhood are also concerned about the development.